Establishing the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force – Polar Regions

The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) activities in the polar regions overwhelm current monitoring bodies, providing China a “carte blanche” to set conditions for future operations in these areas. China’s pursuits create risk for allies and partners because they lack a unifying organization to monitor and mitigate the totality of PRC initiatives. This Chinese “allfare” includes exploitation of tourism; illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; and other illicit activities, such as human trafficking. It includes achieving positional advantage through targeted regions in Antarctica and a disregard for sovereignty (for example, balloon incursions in 2023, and other PRC incursions into Alaskan waters). Against increased Chinese (and Russian) access to the polar regions via new icebreakers, the current monitoring and response efforts of the United States, its Arctic allies, and parties to the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) fall short. These conditions establish the need to create a Combined, Joint, Interagency Task Force Polar Regions (CJIATF-PR).